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Daughter of Cuban exiles
translates city's diversity plan into action

By Doug Snover

July 15, 2006

Rosa Inchausti puts a face on Tempe City
Hall’s diversity program. Hired four
years ago as the city's first diversity
director, the 38-year-old daughter of
Cuban exiles and now south Tempe
resident is a prime example of the kind
of workplace Tempe is working to
promote.

Inchausti's first language is Spanish.
In the home of her parents, Cuban exiles
seeking freedom from oppression, English
was rarely heard, even after the family
moved from Miami to Los Angeles when she
was a girl.

After graduating from Loyola Marymount
University with a bachelor’s degree in
psychology, Inchausti went on to receive
a master’s degree in counseling
education from Northern Arizona
University. She joined the Tempe city
staff as a bilingual marriage therapist
in the city’s Social Services Office
before taking on the diversity role.

Timing of the new job was no
coincidence. It followed a
discrimination lawsuit filed by minority
employees and an Arizona Attorney
General’s investigation into alleged
workplace discrimination. Inchausti, it
seems apparent, was the ideal candidate.

In his Weekly Thought to city
employees, City Manager Will Manley
wrote:

“Of particular significance is the fact
that Rosa has extensive experience in
two important aspects of human relations
work: individual counseling and focus
group work.

“Her educational background and
professional experience uniquely qualify
her to meet the challenge of our current
organizational needs. One of the most
critical findings in our recent
diversity audit is the unfortunate fact
that 20 percent of the employees in our
work force feel that there is no safe
place in the City to go with serious
work problems.

“From the interview forums, Rosa created
a comfort level with managers and
employees alike. She is clearly someone
whom people feel comfortable going to
with problems. That comfort level will
be increased by the fact that Rosa will
report directly to me. Her office on
the second floor of the pyramid will be
the organizational ‘safe haven’ that we
have lacked in the past.”

Tempe now has three “safe havens,”
actually, Inchausti notes: Her office,
the City Attorney’s office and the Human
Resources office.

To illustrate the success of those safe
havens, Inchausti points to the number
of EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission) complaints filed by city
employees against the city: In 2000, 36
complaints were filed. In 2005, there
were three and, so far in 2006, there
has been only one.

Importantly, none of the 16 EEOC
complaints filed against the city since
2002 has been substantiated, Inchausti
stresses.

To place Inchausti's job in perspective,
Tempe city government has 1,683
employees. Some 1,235 of them are White.
Three hundred and thirty are Hispanic,
the rest African American, Native
American, Asian or “other” backgrounds.
Approximately 538 of the city’s
employees are female.

About 76 percent of the city’s
department managers and deputy managers
are White; 16 percent are Hispanic.

Of the 265 city employees promoted in
recent years, 175 (66 percent) have been
White and 70 (26 percent) Hispanic.
Ninety-two of the 265 promotions since
2003 have gone to women.

Compared to earlier days, the
conclusions suggest progress.

An independent audit of the city’s
workforce in 2001 concluded that
minority employees felt excluded from
promotional opportunities under a “Good
Old Boy” system that held power in
several city departments. Some of those
surveyed said they were not included in
decision-making, were denied promotions,
and had no “safe haven” inside the city
where they could air their complaints
without fear of retaliation.

A lot has changed since Inchausti took
over.

“We’ve accomplished a lot over four
years,” said Inchausti, who recently
reviewed her division’s accomplishments
for members of the Tempe City Council.

Seventy-four percent of the city workers
surveyed for the 2005 follow-up audit
said they were satisfied with their
employer, up from 70 percent in the
first audit.

City employees’ favorable impressions of
the Tempe Public Works Division (the
focus of the discrimination lawsuit) and
Human Resources Office “have increased
substantially since 2001,” the audit
found.

“The combination of a newly created
Diversity Office, Tempe Learning Center
and newly created Diversity Steering
Committee provides tools to assist
managers in developing good management
skills, a safe haven for dissatisfied
employees, and oversight and input by a
city-wide employee representative panel.

“These organizational changes have
provided a message that regardless of an
employee’s background or experience they
are valued individuals, creating a
higher morale among our workforce. This
in turn has greatly benefited our
customers -- our community,” Inchausti
wrote in a article entitled, “How
diversity benefits municipalities” that
was published this year by the American
Public Works Association.

“Besides higher employee morale and
higher productivity, this focus on the
diversity of the workforce has created
an atmosphere where the diverse demands
of the changing population are routinely
solved by the diverse experiences and
backgrounds of the empowered City
workforce. As has been shown over and
over again, the motto of the city’s
Diversity Department is true, ‘with
diversity comes strength.’ An empowered
and motivated workforce has created
higher customer satisfaction and
productivity,” she wrote.

All is not perfect for Tempe’s city
employees, however.

The follow-up audit in 2005 found that
more than a quarter (28 percent) of city
employees “have seen, heard of, or
experienced inappropriate treatment in
the past year.”

That percentage is up slightly from 26
percent in 2001.

Auditors found the most complaints of
inappropriate treatment in Development
Services, Water Utilities, Public Works
and Financial Services areas, with the
lowest number of reports in the Fire,
Information Technology and Community
Services areas.

Inchausti ties a healthy diversity
program to employee morale.

“At the end of our day, we go home to
significant others, family, friends or
pets that are generally happy to see
us,” she wrote in the APWA article.
“Most of us don’t enjoy spending time in
places where we are not wanted. … “

“[H]ow do we communicate to our
employees that we are glad they are part
of the daily struggle? At the City of
Tempe, our focus on diversity has
created a work environment where
feedback is bidirectional with workers
and management, discrimination is not
tolerated and workforce diversity is
encouraged and managed. Where conflicts
arise, systems are in place that help
resolve issues and create a welcoming
workplace.”

“Thanks to the creation of a safe haven
for employees, training for managers,
and conflict resolution tools for all,
the City is a safer and less stressful
place to work,” Inchausti wrote for the
APWA article.

“From personal experience, I can tell
you that one stress migraine headache
per week at the office can contribute to
countless hours of missed work time,
clouded judgment and low morale. While
no concrete studies have been performed,
I can guarantee fewer sick days, happier
workers and a safer environment from
having effective tools in place to
reduce and handle conflicts between a
diverse workforce.”

Manley, in his “Weekly Thought” had an
even simpler suggestion:

“I have a modest thought, an idea that
everyone can follow. It’s a concept that
can totally transform our organization,
and it doesn’t cost a penny. It consists
of three words … simple human kindness.
All the management philosophies and all
the organizational theories in the world
do not add up to those three words. It’s
a concept that cuts across all
departments, all levels of the
organization chart, and all points on
the diversity spectrum. It’s contagious
and can spread very quickly.”

“When I listen to the different sides of
various workplace disputes I always come
to one conclusion. If we would all just
make an extra effort to be kinder to
each other many of our problems will go
away. I am as guilty as anyone about
being swept up by the emotion of the
moment. What a happier place this would
be if we could all learn the knack of
stepping back, taking a deep breath, and
just trying to be more understanding of
each other. A pat on the back, a nice
note in the file, a pleasant e-mail, a
kind word … these little things make a
huge difference.”

Kinds words or not, Grupo Acción, a
coalition of Tempe residents and former
city employees, has prepared its own
report for the Tempe City Council that
reportedly contradicts the city’s view
that workplace conditions are improving.

Those concerns are expected to be heard
by the City Council in the next few
months.